If only it wasn't Elijah
by Mai13Rose
Summary: She was wedded to Elijah the second oldest son of the Mikaelsons. Some swear that he is a noble man with a special code of honor. Others object that he is a monster one of the worst ever seen walking on this earth and with no mercy for those standing against him. Some women insist he is the most handsome man they ever saw. She knows and rebukes that he's got nothing on his brother.
1. Chapter 1

**AN** :

First TVD story I ever published. I hope you'll enjoy it and please leave me comments with ideas for the story or constructive criticism. Idon't have a beta-reader so if there is anyone out there, who wants to read through and correct, send a PM.

As to were the story shall lead...well I do have more than one idea. Which means I will need help from you guys to decide. There is going to be a poll once we're a bit into the plot of my fic.

Until than the other half of our main character Irene will be titled as "He/Him".

For all the Elijah fans: I'm sorry, but Irene will never love him as one should love their husband. I do not know as of now if she will ever see him as a friend or if he is going to be an obstacle in her way.

Chapters will be short, because they never seem to get longer. Oh well...on with it! \\(*-*)/

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 _Past, a thousand years ago_...

'It seems that it is time again. You can't hide what you do from me, even if it is in the middle of the night. Why...why can't I be enough for you, Elijah!?'

Here she was once more lying still as a rock as her husband stole himself out of their bed and home nearly silently into the night. She tried to stifle her sobs for as long as he was still in their home and making sure not to wake her.

The bed shifted and his steps were steady and rushed but oh so quiet. The last thing she heard from his escape was the door leading into their small cottage or in his case out.

She tried to stop them, but they wouldn't let themselves be undermined. Tears were floating down her cheeks. She was determined to at least drown her sobbing even if those damned tears were impossible to hold back.

Never the first and always the second. Forced not chosen. Irene not Tatja. Elijah not Him.

'I will never be enough, because I will never be Tatia. I will respect our marriage, but I will never respect you, Elijah. I didn't want you either, but sometimes one just has no choice.'

She would have been in a better place if she had married his brother. With him she would have been happy. He would have loved and respected her and in return she would have cherished and accepted him.

'If only it could have been him...if only it wasn't Elijah.'


	2. Chapter 2

_Present, 21st century_...

High above the ground she stood once more. Nearly on top of the hill. So why did it feel like she just shattered at the very bottom.

Cursing his and their existence. Wishing to turn back and never meeting him. Than rethinking the situation and laughing at her pathetic self for even entertaining that notion.

'What would he think of me, if he was here besides me listening to my scattered thoughts.'

She knew she would have broken down long before if not for him. He was her salvation and her savior, but also her damnation and her doom. She adored him and she couldn't endure him. Loving him with all of her heart and loathing him with her whole being. He was like her personal holy water and forbidden apple in one person.

All of this didn't matter anymore. Would never matter again. He was out of her reach. It was to late. To late to act. To late to react. To late to change events in their favor. To late to create a future for the two of them.

Why was the world still turning?

Why was nature allowed to look this beautiful?

Over a thousand years went by, but it seemed as if time stood still. Nothing really changed. Nether earth nor human. So why should her life, her existence have changed, if nothing else did? In the beginning alone and without him and in the present by herself and robbed of him.

Again she couldn't be with him. Again she had to stand aside, watch on and cry on the inside. Again Elijah was involved, wanted or not, passive or active. It was always Elijah in one way or another.

However...

...if only it wasn't Elijah.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Wow, long chapter. Please, don't start hoping now

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 _Past a thousand years ago and some years..._

Her older brother was her hero. He could never do anything wrong in her eyes. Arvid was her protector and her caretaker. He was always by her side playing with her or teaching her something new.

As she was getting ready for what should have been the greatest event in her life she thought back to the simpler times. Wishing her brother was there to stand up for her.

"Irene, you should never do anything you do not believe in. Don't ever let anyone tell you that your opinion or dreams aren't important or worth it," she could hear Arvid saying as if he was right behind her.

Those words were said when he was still alive. Before he died defending their village.

 _Dawn barley broke and the sun was only just rising up, but a young pair of siblings was already making their way though the woods on the edge of their town._

 _"Arvid! Do wait for me, brother. I'm not as fast as you are," a small child with round hazel eyes, which were narrowed with annoyance at her brother, exclaimed._

 _"Do keep up, slow poke," the older child called over his shoulder, voice breaking as he talked._

 _"Your voice sure sounds funny," laughed the little girl as she stumbled over a root. "It does not!" she could hear him pouting._

 _"Mother says that it is as it should be for a man of my age. She told me every man's voice does it, when they grow," Arvid explained proudly slowing down to walk with his sister._

 _"It does?" she asked, before remembering. " Wait a moment. You aren't even a man yet! Arvid, you are just thirteen years old and you didn't even do the hunt with father, " she realized and corrected him._

 _"You shouldn't lie to me. Mother says that it's bad manners," the girl added so that her brother could understand what he did was wrong._

 _"Argh, Irene! That is how it's said," the young man tried to make his little sister five years his junior understand. "Naturally I do still have to go hunting with father. I can't wait," he rambled with a big grin on his face._

 _Suddenly he felt nervous and unsure. He glazed at his sister out of the corner of his eyes as they strode together past pine trees and bushes."Do you believe, that I could do it? Do you think father will be proud?"_

 _"Why are you even asking, Arvid?" Irene couldn't believe he asked her something so absurd._

 _"Your hunt will be a big success and father will be proud, as will we all be," she told him earnestly, grabbing his forearm and putting herself in his way to look him straight in his warm brown eyes._

 _"Thank you, little sister," he choked out, eyes suspicious wet."I wish...I wish that father could be as proud of me as he is always of you," Irene confessed to him her chin falling onto her bust, starring at the ground to their feet._

 _"He is," Arvid told her. In response he got an unbelieving gaze from Irene. "Well, he should be. I know that I am proud of you," the brown haired boy stated while smiling down at his sister and petting the top of her head._

 _"Father thinks my dreams are stupid and he often told me that I should stop being silly, give up my dreams and do as he says, that I should only be the perfect wife someday. When he is comparing me with Maeve I get the feeling that I am not got enough and my dreams are worthless," Irene whispered into the quietness of the woods._

 _"Irene, you should never do anything you do not believe in. Don't ever let anyone tell you that your opinion or dreams aren't important or worth it!" Arvid replied as he gripped onto his sisters slim shoulders with both hands._

 _"You are Irene, my favorite sister and Maeve is Maeve, our nosy sister. While Maeve might be a perfect bride and competent wife in father's eyes, she is also rather arrogant and selfish," he remarked with an air of absolute confidence around him._

 _"I don't want you to be Maeve. I like that you are active and curious, extremely stubborn and often bossy. Do you think that Maeve would investigate the woods with me or that I would want to take her with me?" his kind eyes screaming at her to have faith in his words._

 _"And please do not worry about marriage yet. When the time comes I will talk to father and we will direct him to the man you will want," he closed the subject and hugged Irene with one arm into his side._

Of course, Irene tried to argue and protest against this arrangement, against her fiance and future husband. Pleading with her father to let her marry someone else, to let her marry Elijah's brother, to let her marry Him.

The only thing she hadn't tried and never could would be running away. Irene had her little sister, Farah, to look after. Farah was the reason she would stay.

She would be her hero, just as Arvid was her hero.


End file.
